SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati
BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday said there was a possibility that the BJP could advance the Lok Sabha elections after its defeat in parliamentary bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“Since yesterday’s results, the BJP is sleepless. They are wary that their political position may worsen in 2019 as several states are going to Assembly polls before that. There is enough possibility that the Lok Sabha elections too would be clubbed with Assembly elections of those states,” she said, addressing a rally of party workers from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in Chandigarh.
Buoyed by the victory of the SP-BSP alliance in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls, the former UP CM said the idea was to teach the BJP a lesson.
Meanwhile, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said that with the “kamal” (BJP poll symbol – lotus) wilting in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, the ways of those who were arrogant would change.
He said that sometimes one needs to forget the past. “Hum Samajwadi log sabka samman karte hain… log purani baatein yaad dila rahe they… lekin kabhi kabhi kuch purani baatein bhoolni padti hain… aur hamara, aapka aur Samajwadiyo ka kabhi kisi ke prati vyavhaar kharab nahi raha hoga… yahi karan hai ke aaj hum logo ke sambandh sabse achhe hain… (We Samajwadis respect everyone. People were trying to make us remember old things, but sometimes we have to forget some past incidents. The Samajwadis’ behaviour was never bad towards anyone, and that is why we now have sound relations with everyone),” Akhilesh told the media in Lucknow, a day after his meeting with Mayawati in Lucknow.
Asking BSP workers to be wary of the “saffron” agenda of the RSS and BJP, Mayawati asked them to start “campaigning on a war footing” for the early election and secure the “political master key to these small states, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, by winning maximum seats in Lok Sabha elections from these states”.
“EVMs held the key to the BJP’s consistent victory in different polls since 2014,” she alleged, adding that the BJP was misusing the CBI, I-T Department and ED to target leaders of rival parties. “They are trying to level allegations against me. I am clean. They tried to call Kanshi Ramji a CIA agent,” she said.
Mayawati said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not fulfilled the promises made before 2014, and warned her workers that they would have to make the masses see through the promises that will be made again.
Akhilesh also attacked the BJP for their “arrogance” in the government, saying, “They were arrogant and spoke foul language… now after the decision by the masses, their ways will change, so will their language.” Had the EVMs worked properly, the SP would have won with a bigger margin, he said.
Asked about SP’s relations with Congress, he said, “Our good relations with Congress will continue… This is because he (Congress president Rahul Gandhi) is young and I am young, so we both have to work together and find ways to solve the problems in this country.”